The trade in reef animals
for the aquarium hobby has seen a recent and abhorrent novelty
manifested in the occurrence of artificially dyed corals.
Normally pigmented octocorals (soft corals) and scleractinians
(stony corals) have both been subjected to unnatural pigmentation
in gaudy, unreal colors of pink, magenta and bright yellow,
just to name a few. Most experienced aquarists recognize
such animals as inherently unnatural (and inevitably compromised)
and almost intuitively avoid purchasing them. Regrettably,
however, enough uninformed aquarists continue to discover
such wonders of incredulous color and fuel the trade and
practice of dyed corals with their purchases. Some of the
most commonly dyed corals include, but are not limited to:
"Leather/Finger" coral (Sinularia), "Colt"
coral (Klyxum), "Cup" coral (Turbinaria
peltata), "Flowerpot" coral (Goniopora),
and "Trumpet" coral (Caulastrea), as well
as sebae and "carpet" anemones.

One could be tempted to
say that responsibility for suffrage imposed upon dyed corals
by this technique sits partly upon the shoulders of the
dealers of marine livestock. Dealers could choose not to
order such animals deliberately or pay for those sent as
so-called "substitutes" to effectively tantalize
a vendor and its customers. Part of responsible retail,
in my opinion, does indeed include a conscientious decision
by merchants to not make inappropriate animals available
for impulse purchases by uninformed customers that are largely
represented by impressionable new aquarists. These are the
hobbyists least likely to be able to successfully care for
diseased, stressed or dying animals. The argument would
proffer the notion that a merchant should want to take the
long-view of farming more satisfied and loyal customers
for the trade with helpful sales and products to encourage
the long-term participation and investment in the hobby
by consumers. A responsible retailer should take heed of
such matters out of sober consideration for the future of
their very livelihood, if not with empathetic concern for
(or moral obligation to) the living resource of the reef
environment. It may not even be enough for a good dealer
to simply avoid bad products when another merchant is willing
to sell them; however, educating the consumer is in everyone's
best interest. Some of the world's best aquarium products
dealers guide their customers with detailed livestock husbandry
placards, seminars and workshops, good book recommendations
and, of course, honest and accurate advice. Indeed, successful
aquarists are the lifeblood of a dealer's trade in the aquarium
hobby, and every merchant should be intimately concerned
with attracting and keeping customers when the rate of attrition
(aquarists leaving the hobby) is unnecessarily high. Obviously,
failing and disillusioned hobbyists are not inspired to
continue spending money in the trade while watching stressed
and dying animals in their aquariums. In plain language,
however, the ultimate weapon for empathetic participants
in the industry of aquarium science against dishonorable
practices is truly, instead, the educated consumer.

A pink Finger Leather (Sinularia).

A yellow branching Colt(Klyxum also
known as Cladiella or Alcyonium).

A magenta branching "Colt."

The Educated Consumer

Aquarists owe it to themselves,
if not the reef denizens that they admire so well, to research
prospective livestock and their captive needs with consideration
for the care that they are willing or able to provide for
said animals before making a purchase. Part of this process
of discovery should reveal the history of a coral's fundamental
viability in captivity. Let there be no doubt that educated
consumers alone and single-handedly can make or break the
trade in an animal. Regardless of how many dyed corals are
"produced" by exporters or ordered by dealers,
the consumer has the final word on the lifespan of any such
product offered on the market. In a brief segue, let me
offer a topical analogy for comparison. There has been concern
in our society for the escalating portrayal of violence
in popular cinema and what effect it might have on people
and, more specifically, how it might shape the minds of
our children. In any event, let there be no doubt that the
creators of such movies would not continue to produce multi-million
dollar films with extreme violence, for example, that failed
to draw a single paying customer to the theater. Movie producers,
quite like coral exporters and dealers, are not operating
charities! Rest assured that they do not wish to ever offer
a product that will not sell well, let alone incur a loss
or debt. And so, the educated consumer need only vote with
their feet by leaving the establishment selling inappropriate
animals and not spending their money. This will promptly
and directly impact what is offered in the market. On the
contrary, a dyed coral purchased by an aquarist is a vote
for the product and will likely be replaced by another
in kind. With this article, I intend to introduce aquarists
to the practice of dyed live corals. I hope to succeed in
helping folks to identify and avoid artificial specimens,
and to assist those with dyed specimens inadvertently in
their charge.

Identifying the Problem

The notion of dying aquatic
animals is hardly new even among cnidarians (stinging-celled
animals). For many years, exporters have dyed anemones in
a dreadful practice that unequivocally compounds shipping
stress and rates of morbidity in such animals that have
an already high rate of mortality. In the early years, the
practice was applied in a myriad of colors before aquarists
and dealers began to realize the dismal impact it had on
the anemone's survivability. Alas, the practice has not
been entirely eliminated, as the occurrence of dyed sebae
and carpet anemones is still observed, albeit limited in
scope and color. Artificially dyed yellow sebae anemones
are perhaps far and away the most common perpetration of
the act. Like carpet anemones (Stichodactyla sp.),
sebae anemones are naturally brown or green colored and
occasionally a very pale yellow cream color (but NO vivid
yellow). And while uncommon color morphs may exist, they
are rare and priced accordingly. More often, aquarists will
find unusual colors in stressed, bleached or dyed animals.
Stressed animals will appear to have a thin or watery visage
as with yellow or lime colors in naturally green specimens
and tan or crème colors in formerly brown pigmented
animals. The most severely stressed anemones will appear
to be white colored. Bright colored tips (often purple)
will remain if they were natural originally, as they generally
are not a zooxanthellate pigment or readily aborted under
duress.

The paling change of color
in stressed cnidarians (coral and anemones) approaching
white is the expulsion of life-giving symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae)
under stress. Without zooxanthellae to provide food/carbon
through photosynthesis with adequate light, a "bleached"
animal is resigned to starve to death in weeks or months
without extraordinary diligence from an aquarist with compensatory
feeding of particulate and/or dissolved foods to the dyed
victim. The coral or anemone will continue to execute normal
polyp cycles, at least in the early weeks after the assault,
and this will make direct supplemental feeding easier. We
should assume that a dyed coral or anemone would require
the same due care and consideration as a pale stressed or
bleached animal. The fundamental problem with dyed corals
and anemones is likely that the saturation of their tissue
with dye impedes the penetration of light into, and the
refraction of light within, their cnidarian tissue for the
proper stimulation of zooxanthellae in symbiosis. Even without
definitive scientific proof to confirm this, our present
understanding of the dynamics of zooxanthellae in symbiosis
with a host cnidarian lends a very informed assumption of
the deleterious possibilities of dying live coral tissue.
Any shading or corruption in the illumination of these symbiotic
algae as with dye-stained tissue surely impedes their function
and ability to feed and support their host. The animal at
this point would be stressed and must photoadapt, if even
possible, like a shaded coral, with the hope that a compensatory
source of carbon (organismal or absorptive feeding, for
example) will carry it through until the dye fades and zooxanthellae
recover or return.

Of course, the previous
suggestion also assumes that dye causes no other harm than
impediment to symbiotic algae and this may very well not
be the case. The entire dilemma is underscored by the everyday
reality seen by aquarists in dyed animals with increased
stress of acclimation and subsequent mortality as depicted
in the series of photos below. Such corals appear otherwise
"normal" at first with full polyp expansion and
cycles (below left). Soon, however, the natural and full
extent of polyp cycles becomes diminished (below center)
and the intensely dyed pigment begins to fade. The paling
color soon reveals an animal that has also lost its natural
pigmentation. What better proof, I say, against ignorant
or unscrupulous dealers of dyed animals that this practice
is harmful than the very absence of natural coloration (life
supporting zooxanthellae) after the dye fades? Volumes have
been written on the function of zooxanthellae and it is
unmistakably clear what happens to a cnidarian that loses
or expels its symbiotic algae: loss of vitality and increased
rates of mortality. Without zooxanthellae, these animals
suffer ever more each day and become more vulnerable to
pests, predators and diseases, not to mention the consumption
of their own tissue from starvation without their zooxanthellae.
In severe cases, tissue necrosis begins to ravage the animal
(below right) and death is imminent. Under the best circumstances
(often with the otherwise durable Turbinaria peltata
"Cup" coral), the animal will require months to
recover resident zooxanthellae in a process of abnormal
blotchy color that lends one to think that the animal is
recovering poorly. Even when such animals survive, their
rates of growth will have been significantly reduced and
they may even have lost mass to consumption. Essentially,
we might be able to equate the compromise between a bleached
coral to a dyed coral by virtue of the apparently reduced
translocation of carbon from like diminished populations
or activities of zooxanthellae.

Tell-tale signs of a severe necrotic infection on the
blackened tips of this newly imported Sinularia.

How to Identify a Dyed Coral

Photos: Turbinaria peltata at left,
dyed yellow and center, blotchy dye - fading
and recovering natural color, and at right,
a natural color of the "Cup" coral. Natural
colors include variations of solid or combined brown,
gray, tan and green but never such bright yellow.
There are naturally occurring bright yellow Turbinaria
in other species for which this animal may be mistaken.
However, a cursory exam by even laymen can distinguish
most every T. peltata from any other popular
species in this genus by the presence of large sparse
polyps on the corallum in contrast to the generally
tiny polyps of other yellow Turbinaria.

Identifying a dyed coral
can be a difficult obstacle for the novice aquarist, for
whom the marvel of so many naturally wondrous colored corals
has not yet afforded an eye to distinguish the few unnatural
or corrupted specimens from the many innate naturally pigmented
beauties. For all aquarists, the best weapon in defense
of such unwise purchases is, again, being an informed, educated
consumer. This entails conducting adequate research on an
animal before and beyond the biased assurances of a dealer,
however well intended that person may seem. A responsible
aquarist will not indulge in impulse purchases of animals
for which they know nothing. As empathetic admirers of the
coral realm, we are obligated to research a coral's fundamental
needs of husbandry such as light, feeding, water quality
and especially viability (hardiness). Unfortunately, some
unscrupulous dealers have been marketing dyed corals as
super-colored or very rare specimens (often
at a premium price: the ultimate insult to the consumer).
Such tactics exploit the mesmerized and uninformed consumer's
inclination to make the impulse purchase for fear of missing
the chance to acquire something "special". If
one could see these dyed corals on import, however, the
"special" nature of their color would often be
more apparent as their shipping water is often not-so-mysteriously
the same color as their tissue. In some cases with scleractinians,
the most conspicuous evidence that such animals are "manufactured"
is the presence of exposed corallum (skeleton) that is stained
the same color as the coral tissue! Let's be clear about
this; scleractinian "skeletons" almost without
exception are white calcium carbonate. The non-scleractinian
but stony-like octocorals Tubipora and Heliopora
do produce a red and blue "skeleton" respectively,
but no corals produce bright canary yellow or neon pink
"skeletons" naturally. Indeed, it cannot be stated
any simpler or more emphatically: information is the oxygen
of understanding.

Caring for Dyed Coral

For aquarists that find
themselves in the service of a dyed coral for any reason,
the single most important dynamic to remember for improving
the animal's chance of survival is feeding. Beyond
the essentials of good water quality for reef invertebrates,
it is critical to feed dyed corals as well or better than
natural corals to compensate for their loss of production
from shaded or expelled zooxanthellae. Dyed corals are likely
starving animals. Their immunity is weakened and they may
very well be dying. How much to feed will depend on the
coral species, of course. But take heed that most reef aquarists
drastically underfeed their corals and too many others at
large inappropriately feed their tanks (such as with heavy
feedings of phytoplankton to zooplankton feeders).

Another significant consideration
for aquarists in the charge of dyed corals is the effect
of bright reef lighting systems on a new and stressed animal.
Indeed, a dyed or bleached and recovering animal can be
quite sensitive to excessive illumination, which can and
does increase rates of mortality if misapplied. Under-illumination,
however, can often be compensated for with appropriate feeding
or perhaps most only with what appears to be inadequate
light (more about this below). There has been a popular
and abused trend in modern aquarium keeping towards, what
is in my opinion, the obscenely intense illumination of
shallow reef aquaria with unnecessarily high wattage metal
halide lamp. While some corals tolerate or even need such
lighting (favored by many SPS coral keepers), the overwhelming
majority of popular corals can often suffer in shallow water
under banks of 400-watt bulbs. In fact, prior to the application
of "lava-making", high intensity lighting schemes,
most every coral kept successfully in the last decade was
maintained nowhere near its saturation point for
photosynthesis. However, a coral does not need to be illuminated
so closely near its saturation point to thrive, but rather
can fare quite well simply meeting or slightly exceeding
its compensation point. And with the reality of sensible
lighting schemes and regular feedings, such coral not only
maintain but also grow very well without being radiated
by the most extreme end of the spectrum. And so, let me
suggest that dyed and recovering bleached corals be kept
in low to moderate light, likely in the bottom third of
a well-lit aquarium. In time, and with evidence of recovery,
the specimen can be slowly moved up the rockscape to brighter
light and gain slowly improved natural pigmentation. For
additional tips on acclimating stressed symbiotic animals,
please refer to the chapter on lighting in my Book of Coral
Propagation, Volume 1 or visit our Wet
Web Media internet site where the revised excerpt is
posted.

Responsible Aquariology...

In parting, what can you
do to help? First and foremost, don't buy these animals!
Vote with the strongest weapon you have the consumer
dollar. If the shippers that execute this abhorrent practice
are too ignorant to know or care about a better way, and
the local retailers are similarly ignorant or worse, then
send a quiet and powerful message: don't spend your money
on them. If you feel compelled or are in a position to be
able to help a good dealer who would embrace a polite education
on the practice, then by all means speak up and please do
it respectfully. Perhaps share a copy of this article or
any other bits of information that might seem topically
helpful. Indeed, for every day there is a better way.

The single greatest threat
to our industry and the hobby of aquarium science at large
is not restrictive legislation on the importation, transportation
and sale of exotic aquarium life: it is the attrition of
participating aquarists! At times the number of new aquarists
entering the hobby and then leaving prematurely soon seems
like a great revolving door. If such aquarists could be
better educated and advised to succeed, then the hobby at
large would benefit tremendously, from the profits of the
merchants through to the body of knowledge that we know
collectively as aquarium science. For this we all need to
do our parts with collectors delivering healthy and appropriate
livestock, retailers providing honest and accurate service
and aquarists promoting education and good fellowship.

Note: as an interesting
and redeeming aside The manager of one of the shops
where some of these corals were photographed was given a
copy of this article. He took it to his owner and they quite
plainly agreed on the substance and merit of the matter.
For various reasons, not the least of which was honest ignorance
in the hectic schedule of the everyday workweek, the significance
and reality of dyed coral had slipped by them. A regular
customer of this shop and mutual friend of mine had politely
proffered the article. As reasonable and intelligent retailers
they simply recognized the problem and agreed to stop ordering
or paying for shipped dyed animals. Although they have certainly
helped themselves and their customers by choosing not to
support such practices, I give them my thanks and admiration
for making a decision that serves the greater good of the
industry for all.

If
you have any questions about this article, please visit my author
forum
on Reef Central.

From the upcoming second volume of the
Book of Coral Propagation: REEF GARDENING FOR AQUARISTS,
by Anthony Calfo 2002/2003.

A special thank you to Doug
Brummet of the Bay Area Reef Enthusiasts club (B.A.R.E.) and
Amy Larsan for their assistance in helping to secure useful
photos for this article.